Mike: Today’s big economic number is Jobless Claims, which will be released at 8:30. The consensus is a reduction in claims to 650,000, which is less than last week’s number of 667,000. The experts have been wrong about the upward trend for the past six months,so don’t be surprised if they are again wrong on the low side. We will keep our fingers crossed that the number does improve. Hold tight……..

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Mike: It looks like jobless claims fell for the first time in weeks, so this is good news for a change. More about the jobless claims number as the story develops:

WASHINGTON, March 5 (Reuters) – The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits fell more than expected last week, a government report showed on Thursday, but remained at high levels consistent with a severe recession.

The Labor Department said initial claims for state unemployment insurance benefits fell by 31,000 to a seasonally adjusted 639,000 in the week ended Feb. 28 from an upwardly revised 670,000 the prior week.

The number of people staying on the benefits roll after drawing an initial week of aid eased by 14,000 to 5.11 million in the week ended Feb. 21, the latest week for which the data is available, from 5.12 million the previous week.

* LOS ANGELES (AP) — Universal Music Group, the world’s largest music recording company, is in talks with Google Inc.’s YouTube division to create a music video venture, according to people familiar with the matter.

Instead of just receiving licensing fees or a share of ad revenue from the online video site, Universal is seeking an equity relationship on an ad-supported site focused on high-quality music videos, separate from the grainy user-generated fare common to YouTube’s main site.

* The number of workers filing for state unemployment benefits fell by 31,000 to a seasonally adjusted 639,000 last week, while the smoothed average of continuing claims moved higher into record territory, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The smoothed average of new claims over the past four weeks rose to 641,750, the highest since October 1982.

* NEW YORK (AP) — A government report that factory orders have fallen for a record sixth straight month is adding to the gloom on Wall Street.

The Commerce Department says demand for manufactured goods fell by 1.9 percent in January. While this is better than the 3.5 percent drop economists expected, it marks the sixth consecutive month that orders have dropped..

* WASHINGTON (AP) — The government says the deepening recession caused worker productivity to slide by a worse-than-expected amount in the fourth quarter while wage pressures shot up at the fastest clip in two years.

The Labor Department said Thursday productivity, the amount of output per hour of work, fell at an annual rate of 0.4 percent in the October-December period. At the same time, unit labor costs were surging by 5.7 percent.

* GM says in its report that its auditors cited recurring losses from operations, stockholders’ deficit and an inability to generate enough cash to meet its obligations in raising substantial doubts about its ability to continue as a going concern.

The company said in its filing that its future depends on successfully executing the viability plan submitted to the government in February to justify the loans.

“If we fail to do so for any reason, we would not be able to continue as a going concern and could potentially be forced to seek relief through a filing under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code,” GM said in the annual report, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Mike: With most economists being wrong about the state of the economy on the bright side for the past two years, I think that the following prognostication is also on the rosey side. I don’t know how they can predict any improvement when most of these same “experts” couldn’t even predict this current economic disaster. One year in fed-speak is more likely two years in reality-speak.

* WASHINGTON (AP) — The businesses on the front lines of the dismal economy say the recession is getting worse in almost every part of the country, and in a bleak new forecast they see no improvement until late this year at the earliest.

A Federal Reserve snapshot of business activity issued Wednesday showed widespread declines in production, from the factories of Cleveland to the high-tech firms of Texas and California, in blue-collar construction jobs and at white-collar accounting firms.

The survey, known as the Beige Book, rated the prospects for economic improvement anytime soon as “poor, with a significant pickup not expected before late 2009 or early 2010.”

Mike: I wonder if this gesture by Patterson has anything to do with his dismal approval ratings of 26%? At least it’s a gesture that shows the seriousness of New York’s budget situation. I don’t blame Patterson for New York’s mess, but I do blame the rather useless, big spending Democrat legislature for driving the state’s economy into the ground:

* ALBANY – Gov. David A. Paterson is docking his own pay.

With the state facing a budget deficit estimated at $14 billion and the governor under fire for proposing new taxes on everything from music downloads to health club memberships, Mr. Paterson confirmed on Thursday that he is taking a salary cut.

* CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is revealing a few details about how it plans to cut $5 million that Mecklenburg County is withholding for budget reasons.

School officials said they plan to cut jobs at the central office level by condensing 13 positions into four, which will save the district close to $500,000. But they promise not to lay off anyone inside schools, especially teachers.

* OVIEDO – Last week, six city employees lost their jobs while others let out a sigh of relief as the Oviedo City Council adopted a new budget proposal that aims to balance the city’s funds and help save the depleting reserve fund.

*Though the 894 job cuts include only two filled positions, state Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp said the diminished prospect of new hires means state operations will be strained. “These cuts are not painless or harmless,” Kopp said. “And there will have to be more.”

* General Dynamics Corp. lowered its full-year outlook Thursday and said it would layoff 1,200 workers and rollback its business-jet production rate because of a deteriorating backlog. The Falls Church, Va., aerospace company said it now expects to deliver 73 of its large-cabin and green-aircraft in 2009, versus the 94 previously expected.

* WASHINGTON (AP) — General Dynamics Corp. says plummeting sales of business and personal jets has forced it to cut production of the luxury planes, leading to layoffs of 1,200 workers and a reduction in company profit guidance for the year.

* TORONTO, March 4 (Reuters) – Aluminum producer Alcoa Inc (AA.N) plans to chop payroll costs by 15 percent at its Canadian smelting operations in Quebec, a company spokesman said on Wednesday.

Alcoa, which like the rest of the aluminum industry has been stung by a sharp drop in prices, will cut management salaries starting next month and plans to negotiate lower wages or fewer hours worked with unionized workers.

* Faced with a dramatic drop in revenues, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts took steps Wednesday to trim $1.7 million from its operating budget by eliminating 6 percent of its staff and reducing executive salaries immediately, and cutting its exhibitions and programs by as much as 20 percent next year.

* The Toronto Star, Canada’s biggest daily newspaper, has laid off almost 40 employees in its advertising department as it copes with an ad market downturn and a weak economy, union officials said on Wednesday.

* FORT SMITH, Ark. — Riverside Furniture will eliminate 58 more jobs from its Fort Smith and Russellville facilities. This comes after the manufacturer announced 250 layoffs — about half its work force — last November.

* About 300 work at the plant of which approximately 250 are unionized, according to the company. The union disputes these figures. Officials state the number of union employees is close to 300 while the number of non-unionized workers is closer to 75.

* Spartech is cutting costs by $50 million so it eliminated about 260 additional jobs across the businesses including the closure of a portion of its Donchery Sheet extrusion operation in France. That’s in addition to 440 other job cuts last year.

* Equipment firm Ciena Corp. (Nasdaq: CIEN), which has been trying to allay fears of a market slump, reported worse than expected sales and earnings today, prompting an immediate round of cost-cutting that will see 200 staff, about 9 percent of its total workforce, made redundant.

* Designer and manufacturer of high-precision health and security imaging equipment, Analogic Corp. (ALOG: News ), Thursday, reported a decline in its profit for the second quarter, despite an increase in revenue. Analogic also announced a 9% reduction of its worldwide workforce impacting about 145 employees.

* ARTHUR- More job cuts are hitting a small Douglas county town. Wednesday, Progress Tank Plant, in Arthur sent people home with pink slips. About 10 people lost their jobs today. Other workers are being asked to cut their hours down to a 4 day work week.

* The Fort Worth Star-Telegram newspaper will be cutting 12 percent of its staff, approximately 120 positions, and reducing salaries to deal with “unprecedented revenue declines due to the economic recession,” the paper confirmed by posting a memo from Publisher Gary Wortel online.

* SANTA CLARITA VALLEY, CA — Carwashes here are getting hit by the economic slump, and Randy Cressall, chief operating officer of Valencia Auto Spa, said the cutbacks have had significant impact on his business, and his staff has been reduced from 55 to 38 employees, The Signal reported.

* SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif. — Seagate Technology says it is cutting 20 percent of its vice presidents and other top executives on top of its previously announced layoffs in an effort to cushion the blow of plunging hard-drive sales.

* The Fresno Bee plans to layoff up to 26 of its 90 rank-and-file newsroom employees to cut costs if union members do not agree to a salary reduction plan, the newspaper reported this week. Meanwhile, its sister paper in Texas, the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, said it is cutting staff.

* All told, Kmart will let go 166 employees due to the closings, according to filings with the state of Ohio. Of those, 47 employees work at Kmart’s Madison store, 61 work at a Kmart that’s closing in Bryan and 58 are being let go due to a store closing in Perrysburg.

* Serbia’s state-owned airline JAT Airways will cut about half its workforce this year to cope with the effects of the economic downturn, its general manager told the state news agency Tanjug on Thursday.

* An expected surge in salmon industry layoffs appears to be taking shape now that southern Chile’s salmon companies – after prematurely harvesting their stocks – are reportedly running out of fish to process.

Chilean-owned Cultivos Marinos this week issued pink slips to approximately 370 contracted workers in its Ancud, Chiloé processing plant. The company let another 150 seasonal workers go last week.